


a calculated risk

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Fix-It, Big Brother Harley Keener, Big Brother Peter Parker, Character Death Fix-It, Family Feels, Fix-It, Gen, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Morgan Stark Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Deserves Better, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, hand wavy time travel, hand wavy use of the time stone, harley keener gets a hug, hugs for everyone ok, morgan stark GETS a hug, protect tony stark, time travel with the time stone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 04:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19660069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: "I'm your big brother, Harley," the man says. "This is our little sister, Morgan. We're Tony's other kids."Peter blinks slowly, trying to parse that out, and cocks his head. "What?""You're my big brothers. Daddy told me all about you," Morgan says, wrapping a tiny hand around Harley's neck. "He missed you both lots, but he told meall the storiesabout Spider-Man.""Did he now," Peter says, utterly bemused. It hurts to hear her talk about Tony, to think of all the time that Peter has missed. Five years. He's been gone longer than he knew Tony for. The knowledge weighs heavily.Morgan nods so hard her pigtails bounce. "Yup! He's gonna be so happy to see you again.""What?" Peter says again.Harley motions to him. "Get up. We're gonna save our dad."





	a calculated risk

**Author's Note:**

> This randomly came to me tonight. IDEK. I went with the idea that Harley was decimated too, since I couldn't find any official sources one way or the other.

Peter's sitting on the edge of the dock with his feet in the water. It's May, so the water is pretty warm. He almost wishes it were cold, but if that were the case then there's no way Aunt May would be letting him sit here like this. As it is, Peter's a little surprised that she's not hovering over his right shoulder. But then he remembers her saying something about Happy and shudders, because that is not a thought that he wants to be having anytime soon. Or ever.

"You're Spider-Man, right?"

The unfamiliar voice right behind him makes Peter turn around. The young man standing behind him is a few inches taller than Peter and wearing jeans and an old sweatshirt. He looks as tired and sad Peter feels right now, which is really saying something. He's got a little girl on his hip. She has brown hair tied into pigtails and brown eyes, and something about her face makes Peter's heart twist itself upside down. Pepper mentioned a daughter, now that he thinks about it, and this little girl has Tony's eyes set above Pepper's nose and cheekbones.

"Yeah," Peter says warily. "That's me."

"I'm your big brother, Harley," the man says. "This is our little sister, Morgan. We're Tony's other kids."

Peter blinks slowly, trying to parse that out, and cocks his head. "What?"

"You're my big brothers. Daddy told me all about you," Morgan says, wrapping a tiny hand around Harley's neck. "He missed you both lots, but he told me _all the stories_ about Spider-Man."

"Did he now," Peter says, utterly bemused. It hurts to hear her talk about Tony, to think of all the time that Peter has missed. Five years. He's been gone longer than he knew Tony for. The knowledge weighs heavily.

Morgan nods so hard her pigtails bounce. "Yup! He's gonna be so happy to see you again."

"What?" Peter says again.

Harley motions to him. "Get up. We're gonna save our dad." 

Confusion doesn't even begin to explain Peter's current state of mind, but he finds himself pulling his feet out of the water and standing up as fast as he can. He falls into step beside Harley, and walks with him and Morgan into the house. Pepper and Rhodey are standing in the kitchen. Pepper takes one look at the three of them together and her eyes go all red and she starts blinking really fast. Rhodey reaches out and hugs her, carefully turning his face away like the three of them might not notice that he's crying too. The heaviness of their grief weighs on Peter's shoulders.

They go to what's clearly a guest bedroom, and Harley sets Morgan down on the covers. He sits on one side of her, which leaves Peter to sit on the other side. They're all quiet for the moment, which lets Peter have the chance to get his brain caught up. Tony's other kids, Harley said. Implying that Peter is one of those kids too. And he called Tony 'dad'. Peter inhales deeply and lets it out slowly. He's always been an only child. He thinks he could get used to having a big brother and a little sister. 

But they need their dad too.

So he turns to Harley and says, "What's the plan?"

Harley grins at him, fierce and bright and just like Tony in the depths of an inventing binge. "We're going to steal the time stone and use it to go back in time to get Tony right before Thanos attacks. We'll bring him back here."

"Won't that undo everything that happened?" Peter asks warily.

"Nope!" Morgan chirps. "Cause I was talking to Nebula, and she said she killed her 2014 self but that she's still her! Nothing has changed."

Peter blinks and then exchanges a horrified look with Harley. "Wait, Nebula told you that?"

Morgan nods. "Then Uncle Happy came over and interrupted us."

"Wonder why," Harley mutters, now looking more amused than anything, and shrugs at Peter. "See? It means that we can get Tony back, but that things will still play out the same."

"That... makes no sense, though," Peter says.

"It's time travel. Daddy says it doesn't have to make sense," Morgan says solemnly.

Harley ruffles her hair. "Damn straight."

"Okay, so..." Peter thinks fast. "It sounds like it's creating parallel universes to some degree, but I guess that's not the important part. Would Tony agree to come back with us?"

"We can knock him out and drag him along if we have to," Harley says, shrugging. "We only have a small window, though. Rogers is leaving to put the stones back where they came from right after Tony's funeral. If we want to do this, it has to be now."

"I'm ready," Peter says, practically before Harley finishes talking. He wants to see Tony again more than anything else in the world. A five second hug on the battlefield just isn't enough, and it never will be. He needs more than that. They all need more than that. 

_Tony_ deserves more than that.

"Excellent," Harley says with satisfaction. "Okay, here's how it's gonna go down. We know the stones are being kept in Rogers' room right now. Morgan's gonna distract him." He tugs gently at Morgan's pigtail, and she giggles. "You and I will sneak in and find the stones. I don't think they'll be too difficult to find. Then I'll use the time stone -"

"Nope. I'll use it. I'm not an average human. It's safer for me to do it," Peter says. 

Harley frowns, but concedes the point with a nod. "You'll use the time stone, we'll go back in time and get Tony, and then we'll be back at pretty much the same instant that we left. No time for anyone to stop us."

"Sounds like a plan to me." His heart is racing, either with excitement or dread. The last two times the infinity stones came out to play, Peter died and then came back to life. Part of him wants to bury the stones so deep that they'll never be found. The other part of him, which hasn't even started to accept the idea that Tony might really be dead, demands that they do whatever it takes to get Tony back. Hell, Peter doesn't care if he has to put on that stupid gauntlet and snap his fingers. He'll do it for Tony, damn the consequences, and it will be worth it.

"You know what to do, right kiddo?" Harley says to Morgan.

"I just have to talk to Captain America. It's not hard," Morgan says, with the kind of scorn reserved for someone who is growing up with Iron Man as her father.

"Okay. Do you know where he is?" Harley asks.

"FRIDAY, where's Rogers?" Peter asks.

"He is in the pool room," FRIDAY says helpfully.

"Pool room?" Peter mutters to himself, then shakes his head. Not the time.

Morgan bounces to her feet and saunters out of the room. Peter and Harley trail behind her. She knows exactly where she's going, which is fortunate because Peter really doesn't. He watches as Morgan walks directly to a door and opens it. She walks inside and a moment later Peter's ears pick up on the surprised tones of Steve Rogers. He nods at Harley, and the two of them creep backs towards the guest bedrooms. Peter hasn't been paying any attention to where people are sleeping, but evidently Harley has because he walks confidently to the fourth door from the left.

"C'mon," he says, waving to Peter. 

Peter follows him inside, closing the door behind them. "Do you know where he keeps them?"

"No, but they've gotta be here somewhere. Start looking," Harley says, opening the closet.

Based on what Peter knows of Steve Rogers, which is mostly bits and pieces that Tony's let slip, Peter scans the room. He disregards the closet that Harley is searching through and moves forward. The hair on the back of his neck prickles when he passes by the nightstand and Peter stops. To the average person, the nightstand looks like a regular table. It's simple. Too simple for any house that Tony Stark has put together. Peter pulls his fist back, then punches the top of the table with all of his strength. It splinters, the legs cracking, and a chill runs down his spine.

"Shit, nice," Harley exclaims behind him.

Peter looks at the six grey metal capsule. The time stone, he knows, is green. He doesn't think he'll ever forget the sight of that green stone passing out of Dr. Strange's hands and into Thanos's hands. Not that he blames Dr. Strange for giving it up. He doesn't. It saved Tony's life, and let Tony live long enough to save everyone else. But it's still a color that's going to haunt his nightmares for months to come.

"I thought we agreed I'd use the stone," Peter says when Harley goes to pick it up.

"Older brother privileges?" Harley says, fingers inches from the time stone's capsule.

"You're only like a year older than me," Peter points out.

"A year makes all the difference," Harley sniffs, but he sits back on his heels with a sigh.

"It really doesn't," Peter says, scooping up the capsule. He runs his fingers over it, trying to figure out how it opens.

They both jump when the door opens behind them instead, and Peter lets out an honest to god yelp.

Morgan pokes her head in. "Did you find it?"

"I thought you were distracting Rogers," Harley hisses, clasping his hand to his chest. "We only just came back to life less than twenty-four hours ago. Are you trying to kill us again?"

She smiles at Harley, looking scarily reminiscent of Pepper, and says, "I wouldn't have to try."

"Okay see, this is why she can't be allowed to grow up with just Pepper," Harley says to Peter, eyeing Morgan warily.

"You won't hear any complaints from me," Peter says, secretly impressed. "Morgan, where's Rogers?"

"I told him I wanted cheeseburgers," she says smugly. "From the diner two hours away. He didn't want to go, but I started to cry and then he had to."

Harley whistles softly. "Nice. Very nice," he says.

"I want to come with you," she says.

"Uh, no?" Harley says. "Too dangerous."

"It's no more dangerous for her than it is for us," Peter says thoughtlessly, and Morgan beams. 

"I like you. You're my favorite big brother."

"Hey!" Harley protests. "Unfair."

Peter rolls his eyes at both of them - is this really what having siblings is like? - and resumes trying to open the capsule. He finally manages it, finding the lock at the top right. It opens to his fingerprint, though he's not sure why. The soft green light of the time stone fills the room and Morgan stops tormenting Harley, both of them turning to stare. Peter finds himself strangely breathless. His hands shakes a little, though he does his best to make it stop.

"It's pretty," Morgan says.

Harley picks her up. "No touchy, got it?"

She pouts. "Mean."

"Come here," Peter says to both of them. "I don't know this works. The three of us should probably be touching."

Harley moves closer and slings his free arm around Peter's shoulders, pressing Morgan between them. Peter licks his lips nervously and, thinking very hard about roughly four days ago, plucks the time stone out of the capsule. He's almost expecting to be obliterated on the spot, but instead all that happens is a fizzle of electricity runs up his arm. He lays the stone in the palm of his hand and squeezes his fist around it, closing his eyes. He startles slightly when two tiny hands are laid over his, and then Harley shifts and a bigger hand is laid over Morgan's.

A warm feeling runs through Peter.

"Cool!" Morgan whispers, right in Peter's ear, and he opens his eyes.

There's a glowing green mandala above their joined hands. It shimmers slightly, looking not unlike one of Tony's holograms. Peter looks at Morgan and Harley, but both of them just look blankly back at him. So he gently grips the mandala and twists it backwards, keeping the date and time that they want fixed very firmly in his mind. The world around them blurs and _moves_ , too fast for the eye to follow. Morgan whimpers and buries her head in Harley's shoulder, though she keeps her hands on Peter's. Harley's grip tightens too, and he shifts closer to Peter and Morgan.

When it stops, Peter feels disoriented and nauseated. The room around them doesn't look much different - but the nightstand is whole again. Morgan and Harley let go of his hands, and Peter slides the time stone back into its capsule. He closes it up and stands there for a moment, a little shocked that it worked. They've gone back in time.

"Do you think we're at the right point?" Harley asks.

"I'm sure we'll find out. FRIDAY definitely knows we're here, which means Tony will too," Peter says. He feels shaky on his feet, to the point where he's glad that Harley's still got an arm around his shoulders because otherwise he might fall over. 

Sure enough, less than two minutes later, the door flies open and a repulsor is aimed in their faces.

"Daddy!" Morgan cries. She leaps out of Harley's arms and into Tony's.

"What the - Morgan? I thought you went shopping with Mommy?" Tony looks utterly bewildered, but then he catches sight of them and actually drops his repulsor. "Peter? Harley?" His eyes bug out.

"Tony." Peter can't define the feelings bubbling up in him; he can barely bring himself to speak. Luckily, Harley doesn't seem to have that problem.

"Tony, you need to come with us," he says urgently.

"I need to what? How are you here? What - wait, is that the time stone?!" Tony's voice rises in volume. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'll give you the short version," Harley says, exchanging a look with Peter. "In about two days, Captain America and the other Avengers are gonna show up with a crazy plan involving time travel..." 

The look of disbelief on Tony's face deepens as Harley gives him the condensed version of what happened - it's all they can give, because that's all they've heard. It's not like they were alive while this was all going down, and Rhodey and everyone else have been way too busy to worry about giving three kids the finer details. Peter shifts on the balls of his feet, wanting nothing more than to run over and hug Tony. But he doesn't know if that would be welcome right now. 

"You're telling me that we win, but I die?" Tony says finally. "Is this a joke?"

"No," Peter says, finally finding his voice. "It's not a joke."

Tony looks back and forth between them, then swallows hard. "Mother of god. You're here. You're both here." He steps forward, arm outstretched, and somehow the four of them end up entangled in a hug with Morgan in the center. Tony's crying and so is Harley and Morgan and Peter thinks that he is too; he fists his hand in Tony's sweater and holds on so tightly that it hurts, not wanting to let go.

"You have to come with us," Peter says, his voice breaking. "We can't lose you again."

"Pete..." The grief on Tony's face speaks volumes. "Kid, I can't. If what you're saying is true, I have to be here to defeat Thanos."

"No you don't. Nothing in Nebula's future changed after she killed her past self. You've already defeated Thanos," Harley says.

"That makes no sense," Tony says doubtfully.

"But it's the truth. We're not lying," Peter says desperately. "Please. Just come with us. If we get to the future and everything is ruined or has gone wrong, then you - you can come back." His voice wobbles badly, but he makes himself say it.

"Please, Daddy," Morgan begs.

"Please," Harley says.

Tony looks between the three of them, at their identical pleading expressions. Peter can pinpoint the moment when he breaks.

"Okay. I'll come with you," Tony says. "If only to protect you from Pepper when she finds out you've been messing with the stones." He tries to smile, though it comes off as more of a grimace. 

Harley closes his eyes with relief, then glances at Peter. "Do it now before he changes his mind."

Peter opens the capsule again, aware of the way that Tony immediately tenses, and pulls out the time stone. Just like before, Morgan and Harley reach for him. The three of them hold onto the stone while Tony watches with fascination. The same shivery feeling goes through Peter, and then the mandala forms. This time, he turns it forward a little. The world explodes into motion around them. People come and go, too fast for Peter's eyes to track, until it suddenly jolts to a stop.

"Oh my god!" Pepper screams, and suddenly Peter realizes they're not alone in the room.

He catches sight of Pepper, Rhodey, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, and Happy before May practically tackles him. Peter hugs her with one arm while holding the time stone with the other; Harley snags the capsule from Peter's pocket and holds it open. Peter gently lays the time stone to rest, and they look at each other for a moment before looking back at where Pepper is hugging Tony and Morgan and sobbing.

"That was extremely dangerous," Strange says, his voice ringing out over the general cacophony. "You could have been lost in time forever."

May sobs once, holding Peter even tighter.

"But we weren't, and we got Tony back," Harley says with a smile edged in steel.

"I can't believe it," Rhodey says with wonder, staring at Tony. "You're here, man. You're really here."

"I really am," Tony says, looking overwhelmed. 

Steve walks over and holds his hand out to Harley. "The stone, please."

Harley hands it over without an ounce of remorse. Peter's fingers tingle as Steve tucks it away. He knows he'll never seen the time stone again, but he's not exactly disappointed about that fact. He averts his eyes and hugs May back, whispering apologies in her ear that he doesn't really mean, and she finally lets go only for Pepper to haul Harley and Peter into a hug. She clutches them both while sobbing out her gratitude. 

"Pep, you're strangling them," Tony says from where he's hugging Rhodey, which is kind of ironic considering how hard Tony hugged them, but Peter doesn't mind.

"Thank you, thank you," Pepper says, ignoring Tony altogether, and kisses Peter's cheek. 

It's complete mayhem, but Peter's feeling lighter than he has since they were brought back to life. He grins foolishly at Harley, who grins back, and then somehow they're both being swept up into another hug that seems to compromise pretty much everyone in the room. Pepper's holding Morgan and hugging Tony, and Tony's got an arm around Peter and an arm around Harley, and Rhodey and May and Happy are hugging all of them, and then everyone else is clustered all around them. Everyone's crying and Peter finally feels like that weight has slid off his shoulders.

Totally worth it, he thinks, and holds Tony that much tighter.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
